The present invention relates to wire spring assemblies for use in furniture items such as mattresses and seat cushions and in particular to wire spring assemblies made from a pair of nestably stackable half units.
Wire spring assemblies for use in mattresses, seat cushions and the like are usually comprised of coil springs, continuous or individual, aligned in rows that form a generally rectangular shape. Lacing wires on the top and bottom surfaces of the coil springs hold the coil springs in place, providing a yieldable wire spring assembly. The wire spring assemblies are typically shipped from the wire manufacturer to upholstery plants for finish manufacturing where padding and a cover are added to finish the furniture articles.
The most common method of bulk packaging of the coil spring wire cores is baling. One bale typically includes 15 to 20 spring assemblies fully compressed. Crating material on the top and bottom of a bale provides the rigid surface structure necessary to contain the assemblies. Heavy wire ties are used throughout the edges, ends and center to keep the assemblies from decompressing to their free state. The baling process is reversed at the upholstery plants. Heavy equipment is required in both locations in order to control the very large loads involved in both baling and unbaling. The process is slow, expensive and sometimes dangerous.
Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide a wire spring assembly that can be easily baled and transported without the necessity of compressing the springs while at the same time reducing the space that is required to ship the spring assemblies in a relaxed state.
The wire spring assemblies of the present invention are comprised of two half units. The two half units are assembled together by inverting one unit relative to the other, aligning the two half units and locking then together to form a double sided mattress or seat core. The assemblies are then upholstered in a normal fashion. The half units can be configured to be locked together with or without the use of tools.
Each half unit is comprised of a generally planar rectangular deck from which a plurality of spring elements depend. The spring elements include attaching portions at one end which are used to attach the spring elements to the deck by winding the lacing wires around the spring attaching portions. The spring elements extend from the attaching portions to distal ends spaced from the deck. The distal ends of the spring elements are formed with complementary connecting structures that enable the spring elements of one half unit to snap-fit together with the spring elements of another half unit. This snap-fit connection joins the two half units together, forming the wire spring assembly.
The spring elements are preferably tapered from the deck to the distal ends to permit nestable stacking of the half units. As a result, a plurality of half units can be stacked together in a bale, significantly reducing the space needed for shipping a bale without compressing the spring elements.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.